


After The Fall

by Hakuya



Category: One Piece
Genre: Angst and Feels, Cora's Death, Deathfic, Drabble, Flashback, Gen, Law is a nerd idk, young Law
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2017-10-19
Packaged: 2019-01-19 13:25:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12411141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hakuya/pseuds/Hakuya
Summary: The suffix "-lysis" refers to dissolution, separation, disintegration and breaking down, but analysis does nothing to lessen the impact of death.Word Count: 422





	After The Fall

 

  The boy keeps running, the snow that had gotten into his ill-fitting boots saps his body heat as he struggles with only a vague goal in mind: to live. 

 

  — _ but he should be dead, dead instead of clinging to pathetic life at the expense of— _

 

_   —can't even fix a few bullet wounds—  _

 

_   —in frigid climates, _ algor mortis _ sets in sooner. The body temperature of the deceased drops more rapidly than the standard 1.5 degrees Celsius per hour, often causing inaccuracies in the estimated time of— _

 

_   —his smile, remember his— _

 

_   —just keep moving— _

 

_   —“it's not magic, you know.” —  
_

 

 He no longer has the strength to scream, his throat still raw from the vain attempts before, but he clamps a hand over his mouth instinctively, as if to hide his grimace from the cold air. It  _ is  _ magic. It saved him. 

 

_   —“Please save this boy, Doctor!”— _

 

_   —there is no hope. Never had been— _

 

_   —why why why why WHY?!— _

 

_   —the man who showed him kindness. His body is buried in snow— _

 

_   —approximately thirty minutes to two hours after death,  _ livor mortis  _ begins to form. In forensic anthropology, these markings indicate body position at and immediately after approximate time of— _

 

_   —spots of white blooming against her skin, his skin, his world; startling against the thick crimson that— _

 

 As he desperately glances behind him, not daring to stop, gently drifting snow obscures Cora-san’s cooling body, separating the two of them. It was a signal just as final as the inferno that ripped through his home: There's nowhere to return to. Some frantic corner of his mind wonders how long he'd been running, and how much longer he must go on. 

 

_   — _ rigor mortis _ sets in two to six hours after the heart—  _

 

_   —putrefaction begins from the gut flora, causing bloating and— _

 

_   —shut up…!— _

 

_   —brain matter undergoes liquefactive necrosis, due to cell death and the resulting release of—  _

 

_   —gone, gone, gone— _

 

_   —teeth and hair remains attached to the corpse for months— _

 

_   —but he's no longer there. He no longer exists—  _

 

_   —shut up shut up shut UP!— _

 

_   —all his memories are gone with his brain cells, and someday his smile would be wiped from mine, too— _

 

 Even though every breath is like setting fire to his already-strained lungs, even though he tastes the familiar metallic sting of blood rising from the back of his throat, he strains to scream with his ruined voice. It was no longer a plea for help, nor a cry of anguish. It was merely noise to drown out what he cannot give voice to. 


End file.
